Day 10 (Oct 11th): Saint Germain en Laye in Paris and Normandy travel log

According to our travel brochure, we were supposed to dock at Conflan today, but for whatever reason, we were docked at Le Pecq again. In the morning I went to a tour of Conflan, thinking I would be just stepping out of the ship, but instead went on an hour-long bus ride to a little town.

La Professeure was feeling sick and stayed on the ship, and her parents came along, but only for church, so I was by myself during the tour. It was a little Medieval town in the confluence between the Seine and Oise rivers, and has a lot of barges on it. Many of them are now no longer used as barges and converted into living spaces, schools, or even a church. We went into the church to take a peek (coincidentally the same church my in-laws went to) and only then got an impression of how long the barges are: they have the altar at the front of the ship, but the parishioners at the end of the ship needed a TV to see and hear what’s going on. There’s a little church on top of a small hill and we hiked up there, but other than that, there wasn’t much to see around the town. The ship’s chef did a supply run at the local farmer’s market and spared some time to give a talk about cooking tips and shopping for food. It would have been interesting except for the fact that it was too crowded. But I did get to taste local oysters, cheeses (made with unpasteurized milk, so I can’t bring any back to the states) , and salami.

In the afternoon, we went to Versailles. This time La Professeure followed me, but my in-laws didn’t. It was crowded and packed with people. That made La Professeure uncomfortable, with her illness. The place reminded me of Wurzburg residence and the Schobrunn palace (both were just replicas of Versailles), but I remember the visit more for the crowd than the architecture or decor. There were people barging in, blocking the corridor for selfies (the Asians are the worst). We must have spent an hour inside crowded with other visitors, before visiting the garden. The garden is big and worth visiting, and we wish we could spend more time there.

This was the last day of the cruise, and after dinner we went on a bus tour into the city to see the monuments at night. It was 40 minutes each way just getting into the city, and another 40 minutes driving by bus. By this time I knew the downtown area so well that I could tell without reading a map what was coming up before getting there. I have not seen those monuments at night but somehow weren’t surprised by their sights. Probably read too much travel brochures.

By the time we got back to the ship it was half past midnight. We were the first ones to leave the ship the next day (an 8:30am flight) and we needed to be ready by 4:30. So I only got a 3-hour sleep.

Last updated October 23, 2015